Angel - S1E16

The Ring
First Aired: Tuesday February 29, 2000

Angel investigates the kidnapping of a brother, but finds himself fighting other demons to the death for sport.

This epsiode begins with Angel and the gang investigating a man's brother, who had disappeared due to some gambling debts. Angel follows a trail that leads him to an underground death match between demons. The twist is that the brothers are the ones who run it and they set Angel up so that we would be part of the captives. Trying to be the noble warrior, Angel vows he won't fight and tries to befriend the other demons. They want nothing to do with him. Elsewhere, Wesley and Cordelia investigate Angels disappearance and also find out about the underground death matches. As the infiltrate the match, they see Angel fighting and ultimately killing another demon. They retreat with one of the arm bands to try and figure out what to do while Angel tries to stir up the demons again. He succeeds in capturing one of the brothers on his side of the forcefield, but the other brother shoots and kills him to Angel's surprise. When Angel awakens from the tazer blasts, he is now in the office of Lyla Morgan (first appearance), who is an associate of Wolfram & Hart. They had apparently bought his contract, but Angel wants nothing to do with them and returns to the arena. Wesley, with Cordelia's help, is able to figure out a way to open the cuffs and return to the arena as Angel has to face off against the most powerful demon. The demon also happens to be one kill away from freedom. Wesley's key is taken by one of the pompious demons, but instead of just leaving , he helps release the others. In the arena, Angel and the demon fight each other both to the point where they could kill the other but decide against it. Before the men could excute them, though, the freed demons storm the arena. Cordelia pushes the brother into the arena and the powerful demon kills him. As a badly injured Angel is lead out of the place by Wesley and Cordelia, they appear happy until they realize they had just released all of the demons in Los Angeles.

This is an episode I rememeber and it is a fun one. The self-rightous Angel is left to deal with demons he would normally kill, but needs in order to lead the revolt. It was interesting to see the first appearance of Lyla, who would become a central character through season four. Again, Cordelia and Wesley playing off of each other is spot on, even more so than Cordelia and Doyle was. Though sad, it is good to see this pair together instead of with Doyle. I also enjoed all of the demon types that demoniated this episode, something Angel had always focused on.

Score: 8.5 / 10